Monday, February 23, 2009

There have been two marketing campaigns lately that have peeked my interest. The first was one I hadn't actually noticed until I saw an article in media magazine that I thought was pretty cool. Dentyne has their More Face Time" campaign. The idea is to get off the computer and get back into the real world. Hence the "Face Time". They've even gone so far as to put a 3-minute timer on their website to ensure that you don't waist anymore time online than you should. Also on the site is a "Face time Request" where you can fill in some info requesting face time with a friend for anything from coffee to a walk or even a staring match.

In a word, Genius.

These commercials have made me rethink my whole keeping in touch via facebook attitude, and realize that maybe I should just get in the car and go see my girlfriends. Instead of posting pics of the kids, maybe I should just schedule a day to go visit. When a campaign really makes you stop & think, "Hmm. Good Point." It's obviously accomplished something. Now for Dentyne, this campaign makes sense. Kissing, close up chats with friends and basically real life living outside the Twitterverse are all things that would constitute picking up a pack of gum.

Dentyne is going to obviously benefit from more people taking face to face versus instant messaging. It's a great campaign & applaud you Dentyne.

That brings me to the other campaign that has caught my attention lately, Hulu's VERY funny and entertaining Superbowl ad with Alec Baldwin. Funny & entertaining, but also a little disturbing. As someone who did grow up with a parent who did have that "TV will rot your brain" kind of attitude, there is a part of that does attribute TV, and now the Computer, well basically anything that is not involving a book and a patch of sun on a grassy knoll somewhere, as to be a little unhealthy. This is why I face much guilt in how much my life does revolve around the web. And of course I allow my kids to watch much more TV than I would ever care to admit.

So with my own Anti-TV roots mixed with my overreliance on TV & Computers I always wonder if the effects of too much TV & Internet Time might have negative effects on me. Ok, so maybe not always, but I do sometimes have to slap myself and say, "Get off the computer!"

So when Alec Baldwin and the folks at Hulu come up with a campaign claiming that Aliens are behind TV, it is indeed turning our brains too much and is all part of an evil ploy to take over the world, it does not make me want to go visit Hulu. It actually makes me want to live out the Dentyne commercial above.

Funny? YES. I love a Baldwin as much as the next gal. But does it make me want to visit the site and waist even more time watching TV and surfing the web? NO. No, no, no.

So two campaigns both banking on how much we time we spend in front of the TV and computer. One offers a solution to the "Too Much" epidemic, one promises too make it worse.

Ok, I'm done. Now, let's all step away from the computer and get some fresh air and sunshine. Oh crap, it's raining. And there's a 30Rock rerun on.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

I have been following the story of Michael Phelps and the infamous bong picture, and have had some very mixed feelings about the whole thing. But finding out he's been suspended, well that was enough for me to go ahead and vent a little bit.

Now, I don't condone pot smoking. I would prefer that my kids not be exposed to inspiring healthy role models hitting the bong all over the news. Kellogg's was right in letting him go. That's not what I want my kids to associate with being a healthy athlete. But at the same time, I also feel the same way about role models who smoke cigarettes too. And for that matter I feel even more strongly about role models who are always pictured with a drink in their hands, or even worse, stars like Paris Hilton who simply personify all the values I DON'T want my kids to have. So relatively speaking good 'old Phelps hitting the bong isn't the worst thing in the world.

In fact it has rekindled something I have felt VERY strongly about for most of my life. I do not think that marijuana is any different than Alcohol or Cigarettes. I've known a number of people who have suffered injuries or death related to both alcohol & cigarette use, but none related to the use of marijuana. The only real dangers of Marijuana are the crimes related to its distribution and sales because it's illegal.

With the failing economy and so many people out of work and scared in these trying times I was inspired when I came across this Esquire article recently. After reading it I suddenly realized that President Obama is right, there is no Silver Bullet to fix the economy, but there could be a Green one that would do just fine.

Legalize Marijuana? Saving the economy? YES.

When FDR completed dinner on the second Sunday of his Presidency, 25% of our nation was out of work. Foreclosures and poverty were plaguing communities in every state across the country, the banks were failing and the Depression was at hand. It’s not very difficult for us to imagine what the general feelings were of the country at that time. There was hope, but it was tainted in fear.

After that Sunday dinner FDR looked around to his table and confidently said, "Now would be a good time for a beer." FDR quickly drafted a document calling Congress to immediately cancel prohibition on beer. That Tuesday it was approved by the House and on that Thursday it passed though the Senate. By Saturday Milwaukee had hired over 600 workers. Detroit heeded the call and within days began building $15 million worth of news cars and trucks for brewers and wholesalers.

Within 48 hours Beer makers had paid $10 million ($157 million today) in Federal, State and Municipal taxes. Talk about a silver bullet.

Now repealing beer that week didn't pull America out of the depression. BUT it did give it the shot in the arm needed to boost jobs, stimulate the dying economy and show everyone first hand that it really could be that easy.

Imagine the money that would be made and saved if the prohibition on Marijuana were to be lifted. More than 500 economists all agree. The savings alone would be epic. With money spent on prohibiting Marijuana, if it were made legal right off the bat somewhere between $10 and $15 BILLION dollars would be saved annually. BILLION.

That's just savings. The money that could be made with the legalization, regulation and taxation by the government is mind-boggling. Not to mention it would suddenly free up police and jails to handle criminals who are committing REAL crimes. Police departments everywhere are low on manpower. Imagine if they were suddenly not bogged down with dealing with petty pot dealers.

Like I said, I don't condone smoking pot. I did when I was in high school, which I think was the last time I had a toke, but not anymore. I don't condone drinking either; I haven't had a drink in 10 years. And I certainly don't encourage smoking. It's been six years since I had one of those as well. But I certainly don't think they should be illegal, and I don't think Pot should be either.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

On the day that President Obama was inaugurated I had a really sweet moment happen with my 3 1/2 year old daughter. After waking from her nap that day (having spent a busy morning watching the festivities on TV) she came in and sat next to me. I was watching the parade and she was quickly enthralled with it as well. So much so that she didn't even want me to change it to Dora. As we watched the new President wave and smile my daughter asked me a question. "Mommy, when I grow up can I be President like Barack Obama?" I could feel pride welling up and I looked at the the TV and then at her and answered, "YES, you can."

I didn't feel it was the right time to explain to her about the struggles of women suffrage. Or Hillary's failed attempt at accomplishing the same feat my daughter was beginning to consider. Its hard to know what to tell her. Because I want her to have as much a chance of being President as any boy her age will have. But will she?

I like to think so. As long as women really come together as they once did to demand the right to vote. I see it on the communities like Twittermoms, Twitter itself and all the other amazing bloggers and other great women that I've come to know in the last year.

Women are coming together and finding a united voice. A voice that is a force to be reckoned with. It seems that now the time is right for women to step up and demand their place in the world and in Government. That's why I was so happy to find WomenCount.org.

A great group that is ready to take the new Women's movement to the web and help unite women everywhere in making our voice heard. But the message is a new one, because time have changed. 2008 has shown us just how far we've come and how much more we have to travel.

The first step? Well taking the lessons learned in 2008 and moving forward. As taken from the WomenCount.org website those lessons are,

• As the economy became the single most critical issue in the election, the role that women play in our economic structure has never been clearer. Women are the backbone of the nation’s workforce and control 70 percent of its buying power.• The candidacies of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, while inspiring women and girls around the country to imagine what can be, exposed extreme gender bias in the media and throughout our culture.• Women, who make up 56 percent of the voting population, were targeted as never before as the critical bloc that would determine the outcome of the election.

One of the first things President John F. Kennedy did after being elected President was convene the first Presidential Commission on the Status of Women and appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as its chair. That was 47 long years ago. The time was right then, and it's right again.

Join WomenCount and myself in signing your name to the petition to encourage President Obama to create a Presidential Commission on Women. It's our time to take control and make sure that opportunities for women continue to grow. Do it for yourself, for your sisters, for your friends, for your motehrs & grandmothers who fought so hard as well, and for your daughters.

Help me in ensuring that when I tell my daughter that Yes, she can be President, that I am telling her the truth.

Visit WomenCount.org TODAY and sign your name so that you can make the next chapter in the Women's movement one that counts.

With last week's historic passing of the historic Lily Ledbetter act and President Obama's pledge to make women's rights's a priority now is the time. Please join me by not just signing the petition, but encouraging others to do so as well! Tweet about, blog about it and let's spread the word ladies!

I have been thinking a lot about impeachment this last week. A coupe of things have continued to come across my desk that have kept impeachment as a recurring thought through out the week. Of course there was the very non-surprising impeachment of Illinois' favorite bad boy, Blago. I also began a Political Science class where Ive already been reading about the reasons for the impeachment process. There was also the official statement made by Speaker Nancy Pelosi that has made a few liberal head fume, that there would be no investigation of President Bush and that any impeachment talk was "off the table." This coupled with an article I came across in Vanity Fair just got me thinking.

Now I was a teen and a young adult during the latter half of the Clinton years. Good times. During the late 90s I was a DJ at a rock station in the Central Valley and it was my great distinction to have been on the air during many of the highpoints (ha ha) of the great Clinton Sex Scandal that dominated the media for a part of those late 90s.

And just to be clear my feelings on Clinton's impeachment are exactly the same as they were then, what a bunch of CRAP. Do I think he was a good president? Yes. A good public servant with the best intentions when it came to serving our country? Yep. Do I think he was a bit of a dog , and a crap of a husband? Sure I do. Does that change what kind of President he was? NOT AT ALL. My point is that whatever he did with the skanky little intern should not have impacted his ability t lead or be a good president. It was the subsequent impeachment and complete lack of integrity on the part of the media at the time that impacted the country and his ability to be president.

So if Clinton can be impeached for having sex with an intern & Blago can be impeached for "abuse of power", why exactly is George W. Bush not even so much as worth entertaining the idea of impeachment?

35 whopping articles of impeachment against George W. Bush were introduced into the House of Representatives last June and the House voted 251 to 166 to refer the impeachment resolution to the Judiciary Committee on July 25, where no further action was taken on it.

Now, I'm not saying that I am sure that President Bush should be impeached, because I'm not sure. But I AM sure that back in January 2001 things were cool. Now it's February 2009, and wow, things are kind of a mess. Now if it was ok to impeach Clinton under the ridiculous circumstances in which he was impeached, does someone not owe us, the American people, at least the courtesy of double checking Bush's impeachment? You know, maybe someone could just take a quick look at those 35 articles and MAKE SURE that the country isn't in shambles because of some serious negligence on The Bush Administration's part?